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The first comprehensive study of dizi, a television genre unique to Turkey akin to soap opera or telenovela. Standing at the crossroads of folklore, media, and performance studies, Arzu Öztürkmen explores the rise of the dizi genre in Turkey since the 1970s, when national television broadcasting began in the country. The Delight of Turkish Dizi approaches this unique genre-not quite soap opera or telenovela-as an art form that developed with the collective creative input of writers, producers, directors, actors, editors, musicians, and, lately, international distributors. Öztürkmen shows how dizi-making is a marathon run by sprinters, where production and broadcasting processes have been tightly interwoven, offering a mode of communication and consumption that is distinct to the Turkish television industry. The research consists of oral history with key figures in dizi production and ethnographic surveys of film sets, international content markets, and award ceremonies. This first-ever monograph on Turkish dizi will be a valuable addition to the field of performance and media studies while delighting the general reader as well.
About the author
Trained in folklore studies,
Arzu Öztürkmen is a professor at Bogaziçi University in Istanbul. Her research consists of oral history, folklore, and the history of performing arts. In addition to several articles on the cultural history of Turkey, she is coeditor of
Celebration, Entertainment and Theater in the Ottoman World and
Medieval and Early Modern Performance in the Eastern Mediterranean.
